The invention relates to cutting generally, and more specifically to autonomously controlling the position of a cutting tool to selectively remove one layer of material from a dissimilar layer of material.
Selective cutting generally involves removing an undesired layer of material from a desired layer. In conventional machine tools, including machine tools of the numerical control (NC) and computer numerical control (CNC) type, a cutting tool typically is mounted on a carriage which is moved by a motor driving the carriage through a lead screw. Typically, control signals are supplied to the motor by a motion control system to control the cutting path of the cutting tool. In this way, the tool can automatically machine a rotating workpiece, for example, to a predetermined profile. However, since the cutting path of the predetermined profile must be pre-programmed into the system, it must be known in advance of the cutting. This is a problem in selective cutting applications where the location of the interface between dissimilar layers of material to be separated is not known. Accordingly, selective cutting generally has been limited to manual operations. However, in manual operations operator error can result in over extension of the cutter and damage to the desired layer.